3rd Grade Similes and Metaphors worksheets

About this worksheet

A simile or metaphor compares two things that are not alike to make an idea easier to picture, and a third grader reading one for the first time often takes it literally instead. Told that "the wind howled like a hungry wolf," a child may wonder whether a wolf was really outside. Every sentence on this worksheet is a complete simile or metaphor, and each sheet uses ten different sentences. Questions ask your child what the writer means, whether the sentence is a simile or a metaphor, which two things are compared, which words finish a comparison so it shows a given meaning, and how to turn a simile into a metaphor or back again.

The wrong choices misread the same sentence, for example by taking it word for word, so your child has to think about that sentence. Support sentences use everyday comparisons, and challenge sentences use subtler ones such as "Time was a thief." Ask your child what the two things have in common.

What your child will learn

• Explain what a simile or metaphor means
• Tell a simile from a metaphor
• Name the two things being compared
• Tell the meaning the writer intends from the word-for-word picture